Comics

With the news about Marvel's latest initiative to revive its presence on television with an array of shows, the headliner of that group was always the gamma-radiated return of The Hulk. The live-action revival series of the emerald giant with anger issues will be jointly produced by Marvel and ABC seeing as both are now under the umbrella of Disney's vast entertainment empire. With that said, it seems that those resources were well spent with the announcement of the show's creative team: Director Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, the Hellboy series) and David Eick (Exec. Producer of the Battlestar Galactica shows.) It's quite an impressive collaboration, and for fans wondering about the value of even having a new Hulk series, it undoubtedly raises the profile of the would-be project. The combination will yield a renown film director in Del Toro stepping into virgin territory in this first foray into television, along with a veteran television producer in Eick, whose experiencing running the Galactica shows will prove an invaluable asset. The details, you ask? Well, they're pretty scarce, but a brief description has provided some critical aspects of the new show.

As most of you know, Marvel's Wall-Crawler is set to make his big Broadway debut in January with the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark. Battling an array of some of his most famous villains, Reeve Carney will don the webbed red and blue costume as the production's Peter Parker/Spider-Man as he romances Jennifer Damiano's Mary Jane Watson and battles his primary foe in Patrick Page's The Green Goblin. While some blurry conceptual pics of characters have been making the rounds on the web, official (and extremely touched-up) promotional pics have been released of the production, courtesy of Vogue. What's immediately clear, is that the resume of legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz, who has captured some of the most cultural defining images of generations, can now add the likes of a wire-flying neon nightmare of a Green Goblin and "Swiss Miss." Well, the photography is just fine, I suppose. However, as for the content, you can be the judge of that yourself in the title pic above (sans my ultra-humorous caps) and by viewing the rest of the pics below.

The upcoming follow-up to last year's X-Men Origins: Wolverine now has a name. Whether it was the direct result of a careful and meticulous thought process regarding the film's script or just for lack of anything better, director Darren Aronofsky has told HitFix that the second solo outing for Hugh Jackman's Wolverine will be called -- The Wolverine. Yeah...I guess if anything, no one will be able to accuse the film of beating around the bush. I'm not sure if I've ever heard of him being referred to as "The Wolverine," and it's probably safe to say that it makes the recent underwhelming title reveal of The Dark Knight Rises look epic. However, there's still potential for this title to have relevant meaning, given the ambitious scope of the project. Ambitious, how, you ask? Well, for one thing, the film will be approached, not as a proper sequel to the last film, but as a film with an independent story. So have all the ties been cut from the Singer/Ratner X-films already?

This week Fresh Ink Online's Blair Butler rockets through reviews of Assassin’s Creed: The Fall, Invincible, Halcyon, The New Avengers: The Heroic Age, Avengers: The Children’s Crusade, and Ultimate Thor. We also welcome our friends Comicalliance.com and the LA Times’ blog Hero Complex on board. Check our their awesome coverage of the comic book world too. You will not be disappointed.

We've actually known for a while that director Christopher Nolan had been meeting with actresses to potentially star as the new leading lady for his upcoming third Batman film The Dark Knight Rises. Well, if Deadline's recent report pans out, then the actresses in question are certainly not a bunch that were plucked from the depths of obscurity. They name Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Anne Hathaway, and Keira Knightley (pictured below left-to-right, top-bottom) as the final sextet of this process, which will actually fill vacancies for two roles. One will be Batman's new love interest to replace Rachel, the one that somehow transformed from Katie Holmes into Maggie Gyllenhaal and then got blown up. However, the other, will be as one of the film's villains. Details about exactly which characters these will be are obviously still top secret under lawful penalty of castration and forced viewings of Golden Girls marathons. Ah, but to risk using an infomercial cliché: But wait -- there's more! The folks over at ComicBookMovie believe they have uncovered three more gorgeous starlets who may also be in the running. Did this just get interesting? (That wasn't rhetorical, btw. I'm really asking you. I'm not too sure at this point.)

It looks like Spider-Man won't be the only iconic comic superhero to grace the live stage. Not to be outdone by Mighty Marvel, the folks over at DC have have plucked one of their own signature characters out of comics and movies to make his debut under spotlight on the proscenium in front of a live audience. That's right folks, Batman is coming to the live theater to kick some ass in a new show called BATMAN LIVE. However, it seems that stateside folks may have to wait a while for this one to grace US soil. With its debut set for July 20, 2011 in Manchester, England, it will tour the UK and Europe, before beginning its North American tour by summer 2012. Now, for those of you still experiencing the "ROTF" of the "ROTFLMAO" process about what we've seen of upcoming musicalSpider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, rest easy: It's NOT a musical. (And despite the above pic, will not star Julie Andrews.) However, the show seems to be billed as action-packed, based off an original story that seems to have the approving nods of comic greats like Jim Lee and Geoff Johns.

Despite having a massive head cold, Fresh Ink Online host Blair Butler trudges on and reviews some of this week’s finest comics. Floppys that get the once-over are Batman and Robin, The Amazing Spider-Man, Generation Hope, Scarlet, Superboy, Days Missing: Kestus, and DV8: Gods and Monsters. Good stuff, eh? Hope you get better, Blair! We love you!!!

Director Marc Webb's upcoming and still unnamed Spider-Man film ("The Wall-Crawler Rises?") may be looking to overcome what some might call a premature franchise reboot. Set to hit in summer 2012, it is already evident that attempts are being made to differentiate itself from Sam Raimi's recently-wrapped Spider-Man trilogy, such as casting an unknown (Andrew Garfield) as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, being a 3D release, and bucking convention by casting Emma Stone as love interest Gwen Stacy as opposed to the more well-known Mary-Jane Watson. However, The Hollywood Reporter recently got a hold of a couple major casting scoops that may add to that list. It seems that high profile stars Martin Sheen and Sally Field may be set for the critical roles of Uncle Ben and Aunt May. So, is this reboot film making a statement by casting the iconic ex-fake-presidential actor and the two-time Academy Award-winning actress?

Heads up, Avengers fans. This week's cover of Entertainment Weekly will give us our first look at Chris Evans in costume for his big splash in next year's Captain America: The First Avenger. Well, okay, maybe we did already see this when the initial concept art images hit a number of months back, as well as some blurry (and quite frankly, unflattering) leaked set pics. However, consider this the official reveal of Marvel's super-powered patriot as he looks ready to cut through legions of Nazi troops and shove that star and striped adamantium shield directly up Hitler's Rhineland. (While pulling off a version of "Blue Steel" that would make Derek Zoolander supremely jealous.) So, take a look below the read more link for a glimpse of the new cover and tell us what you think.

Director Christopher Nolan has dropped some major news about the upcoming third film in his Batman series. It seems that the time has finally arrived to put the name "Batman 3" to rest. **Pours one for a homie.** Making it officially official in the most official way officially possible, Nolan has revealed that the film will be titled The Dark Knight Rises. However, seemingly on an rampage of knowledge-dropping, Nolan hardly stopped there. He decided to take the time to also shoot-down some prevailing theories about the film. What's going on? Will batarangs whoosh past your face in 3D? Will The Riddler and Mr. Freeze trap Batman on a platform surrounded by hungry man-eating mutant sea bass and then conveniently leave, not making sure the plan comes to fruition? Tune in same bat-time, same bat-channel. -- Or just click the read more.

With the upcoming follow-up to The Dark Knight officially kicked into gear, it should come as no surprise that director Christopher Nolan is meeting with potential cast members for the still-untitled third Batman project. With recent reports of Tom Hardy (Inception, Black Hawk Down, Star Trek: Nemesis) being on board for a still-unspecified role (rumors range from Detective Harvey Bullock to Killer Croc,) the most notable vacancy in the cast is for a leading lady. Well, according to the latest report from MovieHole, Nolan is currently meeting with producers for a round of cattle-call auditions for the film's female lead. As you recall, Bats' love interest Rachel was blown-up in the last film. (Yet still somehow managed to posthumously dump him. Ouch!) So, Batman 3 will no doubt need its share of estrogen, both in the field of battle in Gotham, and possibly in Bruce Wayne's bedroom. What Nolan hopes to produce from this series of auditions, is still a mystery. However, it could be a critical decision in shaping one of the most highly-anticipated films in a long time.

Fresh Ink Online host Blair Butler is back in da house with reviews of three weeks of comics, including Avengers Academy, Kick-Ass 2, The Return of Bruce Wayne, Vertigo Resurrected, Pilot Season: 7 Days From Hell, Superior, and both Thor and Ultimate Thor. Whew! Now, that’s a lotta comics!

It's no secret that Hugh Jackman has been hugely enthusiastic for any opportunity to play Marvel's feral adamantium-infused wisecracker in Wolverine. Yet, since playing the character again in last year's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, his enthusiasm has been especially prevalent for that film's sequel, which is set to hit sometime in 2011. This sentiment was never more true when New York Magazine recently caught up with Jackman at Elton John’s Enduring Vision gala, where he dropped a bit of a bombshell. Firstly, the rumors connecting director Darren Aronofsky to the sequel were quite correct, as Jackman confirmed that he will reunite with his director from the time-displaced surrealistic drama The Fountain. Additionally, Jackman also revealed that his excruciating training regimen to get all ripped and chiseled for the movie has officially begun. If there are people that still doubt that Wolverine 2 will become a reality, they may want to rethink that notion.